Angry Anderson

Angry Anderson
Rose Tattoo Meredith Music Festival December 2006
Background information
Birth name	Gary Stephen Anderson
Also known as	Angry Anderson
Born	5 August 1948 (1948-08-05)
Origin	Melbourne, Australia
Genres	Hard rock, Blues rock, Rock and roll
Occupations	Singer-songwriter, actor, reporter, television personality, youth advocate
Instruments	Vocals,
Years active	1973–present
Associated acts	Rose Tattoo, The Party Boys, Buster Brown
Website	myspace.com/therealangryanderson

Gary Stephen "Angry" Anderson AM is an Australian rock singer, television presenter/reporter, actor and conservative political activist. He is best known as the vocalist with the hard rock band Rose Tattoo since 1976 but he is also recognised for his acting roles and his charity work. He is a vocal opposition of carbon tax legislation put forward by the government led by the Australian Labor Party, and has attended many anti-carbon tax rallies. On Australia Day, 1993, he was made a Member of the Order of Australia for his role as a youth advocate.

Biography

Born Gary Stephen Anderson on 5 August 1948 in Melbourne to an Australian father and Mauritian mother, he first came to notice as the vocalist with Buster Brown, a band he fronted between 1973 and 1975. The original line-up also featured drummer Phil Rudd, who left the group in 1974 to join AC/DC, and Paul Grant as guitarist who still plays locally in Melbourne. Buster Brown released an album, Something to Say in 1975, before disbanding the same year.

Rose Tattoo had been formed by Peter Wells of the heavy metal band Buffalo. Anderson replaced the group's original singer Tony Lake and when drummer Michael Vandersluys departed soon afterwards, he was replaced by Dallas Royall, who was Rudd's replacement in Buster Brown.

Anderson joined as a guest vocalist with The Incredible Penguins in 1985, for a cover of "Happy Xmas (War Is Over)", a charity project for research on Fairy penguins, which peaked at #10 on the Australian Kent Music Report in December.

Anderson led Rose Tattoo through six studio albums until disbanding the group in 1987, by which time he was the only member remaining from the initial line-up. During 1986, as the group was winding down following the recording of the album Beats From a Single Drum, Anderson joined The Party Boys for an Australian tour, but never recorded with them. The previous year he appeared as the character Ironbar Bassey in the film Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome. By this time Anderson had established himself as an advocate on social issues and made regular appearances on the Channel Nine program A Current Affair as a human interest reporter.

In 1987, he had his biggest hit, when the ballad "Suddenly" from the Beats from a Single Drum album was used as the wedding theme for the Neighbours episode in which the popular characters Scott Robinson and Charlene Mitchell married. In 2009, in homage to this moment, the song was featured in the final episode of BBC3's comedy Gavin and Stacey, during the wedding of characters Nessa and Dave. The track reached #1 in Australia and #3 in Britain. Beats from a Single Drum had been planned as Anderson's debut solo release, but had been billed as a Rose Tattoo album due to contractual obligations; however, after the success of "Suddenly", it was re-released in 1988 as an Angry Anderson album.

With the dissolution of Rose Tattoo, Anderson pressed on with a solo career, releasing the album Blood From Stone in 1990 that produced the hit single "Bound for Glory". He performed this song during the pre-match entertainment at the 1991 AFL Grand Final between Hawthorn and West Coast, appearing on top of a Batmobile. In 1992, he appeared in the highly successful Australian arena-style revival of Jesus Christ Superstar as Herod.

In the early years of the 2000s, he participated in and organised a string of charity events. In 2002, Anderson played with former members of The Angels at the Bali Relief concert in Perth, Western Australia, held in aid of victims of the Bali bombing. Angry is heavily involved in the work of the Dunn Lewis Youth Development Foundation, which is a lasting legacy of two of the 88 Australian lives lost in the bombings.

In 2003, Anderson appeared in a cameo role as the character Kris Quaid in the independent Australian feature film Finding Joy. At the end of the film, he sings his hit "Suddenly".

In 2011, Anderson will feature in a guest role in the Australian movie Suite For Fleur, as Silas, Fleur's father, a carpenter/furniture make living in Byron Bay.

Today, Anderson is a single father of four, and lives in Sydney. Having lost five former band mates to cancer (Dallas Royall, Peter Wells, Ian Rilen, Lobby Lloyde and Mick Cocks), Anderson became an advocate for men's health. He currently appears in a TV campaign promoting awareness of prostate cancer.

Controversial politics

In July 2007, Anderson was criticised after espousing his views on Muslim immigration to Australia.

"It's not ill-conceived to look at certain people and question when they come out here what they bring with them," Anderson told The Daily Telegraph. "We have strict quarantine laws and it should be the same when it comes to cultures that do not want to integrate. We should be very careful about where certain Muslims come from and what they believe. If you come here, you should behave yourself – it's as simple as that," he said. "If people come and live in any country and their way of life is so different they need their own special laws, then possibly they have to pick somewhere else to live. The idea of any Muslim being photographed for a passport or a license with one of those shrouds on – sorry, it just can't happen."

Anderson is also an outspoken supporter of conservative politician Tony Abbott and his views against a price on carbon dioxide.

On 1 March 2010 he told a Federal Parliamentary Committee into the impact of violence on youth that life experience has taught him "Aussies use their fists" when they fight and that "weapons were introduced by other cultures".

Anderson announced on 2 October 2011 that he was joining the conservative National Party, and is interested in standing for a seat in the next Australian federal election.

Discography

with Rose Tattoo:

• entire catalogue, see Rose Tattoo

with Buster Brown:

• Something to Say (1975)

Solo Albums:

• Beats from a Single Drum (1988)
• Blood From Stone (1990)

Solo Singles:

Peak chart positions

Peak Charts	"Suddenly" (1989)	"Bound for Glory" (1990)
Australian ARIA Singles Chart",	1	1
UK Singles Chart	3	3
New Zealand Singles Chart	11	15
US Billboard Singles Chart	35	58
Germany Singles Chart	42	85

Blood For Stone (Album Charts) 1990	Peak Position
Australian ARIA Album Chart",	9
New Zealand Album Chart	26
UK Album Chart	36

Beats from a Single Drum (Album Charts) 1988	Peak Position
Australian ARIA Album Chart",	8
New Zealand Album Chart	18
UK Album Chart	42

Filmography

• Housos (2011) (TV)
• Suite For Fleur (2011)
• Swift and Shift Couriers (2008, 2011) (TV)
• Pizza (2005) (TV)
• Fat Pizza (2003)
• Finding Joy (2002)
• Scuff the Sock (1987) (TV)
• Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome (1985)
• Bullamakanka (1984)

Further reading

• Karen Dewey. ANGRY - Scarred For Life .Published by Pan Macmillan Australia, 1994. (ISBN 0 330 27372 8)
• Murray Engleheart. Blood, Sweat & Beers- Oz Rock from the Aztecs to Rose Tattoo . Published by Harper Collins Australia. 2010. (ISBN 978 0 7322 8935 5)

External links

• Angry Anderson at the Internet Movie Database
• Angry Anderson Official Website
• Angry Anderson blog
• Rose Tattoo Official Website
• Angry's Official Myspace
• Dunn Lewis Development Foundation